At Château Pesquié, the Chaudiere Family has dedicated itself to express a unique terroir of the Ventoux. Pioneers in many ways, the three generations of winemakers from the family have always tried to share a long term vision: an agriculture of high quality has to be sustainable and responsible.

A responsible vine growing

The Chaudiere Family has taken distance to conventional agriculture since the 1980's. Paul Chaudiere is a pioneer: prompted by a concern for sustainable development since he began cultivating grapes in 1985, he immediately became involved in "enlightened" agriculture also known as "integrated farming". In 1993, Château Pesquié was the first independent winery to be selected by the Farre Network (Forum de l'Agriculture Raisonnée et Respectueuse de l'Environnement). Ten years later, Château Pesquié was one of the first independent wineries to obtain final certification. Since then, Alexandre & Frederic, controlled by Ecocert, have moved to organic viticulture.

From the beginning, the winery of Château Pesquié was well integrated in its ecosystem. The cellars are carved into a hillsides and are thus perfectly integrated into the landscape. They are covered in a layer of topsoil that has been well planted and provides good heat insulation. As the cellars are partially buried, the harvested grapes arrive on the roof and fall into the vats by gravity. Furthermore, the buildings that do not have a vegetal cover are supporting a significant photovoltaic installation (solar panels): the estate produces much more electricity than it consumes overall.

The expression of a unique terroir

To maintain balance in the soil, fertilization is carried out using only organic, humus-based fertilizers. Château Pesquié is determined to respect both animal and plant life thus uses mechanical weed killing (especially using a hydraulic "intercep"). The vines are an average age of 40 years old. The vineyard is methodically maintained with permanent care to the highest possible quality, without chemicals and synthetic products. Density, which is traditionally very low in the region, is now close to 5 000 vines per hectare. The Chaudiere family works hard to control yields.

The harvest starts early in the morning allowing the grapes to arrive at low temperatures. Depending on the soil, grape variety and age of the vines, maceration lasts between 12 and 30 days. Vinification and storage mainly take place in stainless steel and concrete vats. Still, the cuvees are aged in barrels and the Chaudiere Family was among the first to believe Ventoux wines had the potential to mature well. The beautiful ageing cellar contains more than 300 barrels. The Oxo-line supports facilitate stirring the wines and performing malolactic fermentation in the barrels. The Chaudiere Family possesses its own bottling equipment and bottles its wines at the Château as they control every step of the production.